You do what?
Trying to explain my job to someone who doesn't work in student affairs can be mind numbing. It usually starts with the whole, "What do you mean you live on campus?" And quite frankly, that's one of the easier things to explain. I'm often asked what a typical day looks like or even a typical week. My dad just the other day said, "So how do you fill your time? Like what do you do all the time?" And it was hard to answer. Really hard. Because there is no typical day. No typical week. Sure I have things that occur weekly such as 1:1 meetings with my supervisor, administrative reports, 1:1 meetings with my student staff, staff meetings with both my department and my students, and meals. Having a meal plan means eating lunch every day and dinner a couple nights a week with my colleagues at various eating places on campus. Within the past week we've dined in two dining halls and enjoyed Subway three times, Chick-Fil-A once, and sushi once. The best part is I haven't spent a dime on any of these meals.
But the rest of my week outside the regular occurrences is a hodge podge of whatever happens and comes up. And perhaps that's why I love the job and student affairs. Because it's never a dull moment and you're always doing something new. You're forever encountering new situations, managing the gray, and figuring out what to do next. This job keeps me on my toes.
Just this week I've dealt with a massive power outage on campus that affected both of my buildings, processed some roommate change requests, met with students having roommate issues, scheduled and adjudicated several conduct cases, did a phone interview with a candidate for an open position, met with STL police after a student called that her cell phone had been left in a cab, heard a report that the fire department was here because one of my RA's was stuck in an elevator (MY WORST NIGHTMARE), met with my new supervisor for my part time position working with Sophomore/Junior/Senior Experience programs, attempted (but failed) to fix the on duty pager, returned a root beer keg to Fitz's, and read and responded to about a gagillion emails. And today's only Tuesday.
Soon I'll begin working in another department on campus 10-15 hours a week, serving on a social justice task force, and two different committees within the department focusing on student staff development and professional staff recruitment. If I play my cards right, I'm hoping I'll get to go to Philly in the spring to attend the recruitment conference.
Perhaps you won't find any of this interesting. But me, I think it's fascinating. And I love it.
Cheers.
But the rest of my week outside the regular occurrences is a hodge podge of whatever happens and comes up. And perhaps that's why I love the job and student affairs. Because it's never a dull moment and you're always doing something new. You're forever encountering new situations, managing the gray, and figuring out what to do next. This job keeps me on my toes.
Just this week I've dealt with a massive power outage on campus that affected both of my buildings, processed some roommate change requests, met with students having roommate issues, scheduled and adjudicated several conduct cases, did a phone interview with a candidate for an open position, met with STL police after a student called that her cell phone had been left in a cab, heard a report that the fire department was here because one of my RA's was stuck in an elevator (MY WORST NIGHTMARE), met with my new supervisor for my part time position working with Sophomore/Junior/Senior Experience programs, attempted (but failed) to fix the on duty pager, returned a root beer keg to Fitz's, and read and responded to about a gagillion emails. And today's only Tuesday.
Soon I'll begin working in another department on campus 10-15 hours a week, serving on a social justice task force, and two different committees within the department focusing on student staff development and professional staff recruitment. If I play my cards right, I'm hoping I'll get to go to Philly in the spring to attend the recruitment conference.
Perhaps you won't find any of this interesting. But me, I think it's fascinating. And I love it.
Cheers.
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